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Wednesday February 10 2016

Uchumi assets being sold illegally, says liquidator

Customers entering Uchumi Garden City. The supermarket is in liquidation but officials of Golf Course Holdings, the landlords for Garden City, have started selling off the assets. Photo by Rachel Mabala

In Summary

Warning. The official says sellers and buyers are committing theft

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By EPHRAIM KASOZI

Kampala.

Assets and goods belonging to Uchumi Supermarkets Limited (in liquidation) at its Garden City branch are being sold in breach of the Insolvency Act, the official receiver has revealed.Insolvency is a state of being unable to pay the money owed by a person or company.

A group of people purporting to be operating on behalf of the landlord have since last Friday been selling goods secretly from the outlet that was closed for recovery of unpaid supplies made to it between 2012 and 2015.

A number of buyers who declined to be named said they were tipped off through a WhatsApp group chat to buy various products at cheaper prices.

However, there was deadlock when another group of people who claimed to have supplied the supermarket stormed the shop and demanded the presence of the liquidator amidst the ongoing sale. They also questioned why the shop was under tight guard.

Mr Fulgence Mungereza, the official receiver of Uchumi Supermarket Ltd, described the act as unfortunate and in abuse of the court process.

“I am the official receiver of the company (Uchumi Supermarket Limited) and in charge of all its assets but at Garden City branch, we were thrown out and the goods are being sold without my consent. The said sale is illegal and in breach of the provisions of insolvency law and not withstanding our notifications to everyone that the purported sale would be illegal and void,” he told journalists at his office in Kololo on Monday.According to him, anybody selling assets of Uchumi at Garden City is committing an offence of theft.

Mr Felix Musiime, the lawyer representing the receiver, said the matter has now been reported to court, which appointed the liquidator and proceedings will soon start.